Twisted Spar

[Sarah]

Hello all!
I am considering purchase of a vessel that broke free from her mooring. She landed on lava rock and landed on her port side and smashed there approximately one hour before being towed off. There's some fiberglass damage to the hull, but mostly I'm concerned about the rig.
She is now hauled out. Her ketch rig is currently down and laying on deck. One of her port side external stainless steel chain plates has some twist. Her resorcinol glued, box section, spruce mast, with an aluminum mast cap has some noticeable twist in the upper 4 feet. Oh yes the bow sprit is torqued too. But that has rot so it will be replaced anyhow. Thoughts anyone? Can I just refasten the mast track in a straight line? Should I scarf in a new upper section of mast? Build a new one? Buy a new aluminum one?
With a strong enough force to twist a chain plate, what does that mean for the rest of the standing rigging? Do I need to replace all the wire now?
The vessel in question is an Ingrid 38, fiberglass hull and deck. Built by Blue Water Boats Inc formerly of Woodenvile, WA. 38' on deck. 47' over all. Ketch rigged with deck stepped masts. All the damage appears to be to the main mast.
Thanks in advance for sharing your thoughts!

[Ian McColgin]

Not sure I have the correct picture from your description but if the "twisted" chainplate is to one of the uppers and if the "twist" in the top of the mast has resulted in some glue line failure, then it sounds as if the damage was caused by that stay/chainplate snagging and wrenching. I'm basing that on observation of similar damage caused by a moving boat snagging a stay on a protrusion from a pier.

Minimum, that stay and chainplate are history. The top of the mast should be rebuilt in the normal way - cloths pin scarf. The whisker stays and bobstay probably need renewal. But as for the other stays - if they are old enough that one would even think of replacement, now's the time. If they are relatively new, give them a very close inspection.

G'luck

[Ian McColgin]

I should have mentioned above that a verbal description can be unintentionally misleading and my understanding could be well off. If you've any reason to doubt your judgement, get a properly trained rigger to take a good look.

[Brion Toss]

Hello,
First, it is always possible that at least some of the mast twist had nothing to do with the grounding; correlation v. causation.
Next, stresses might easily have affected places you haven't noticed yet; follow the flow of forces, look closely at any place that they might have concentrated.
Third, most of those hulls had very, very overbuilt masts, with resultant stability issues; you might be better off with lighter sticks.
Finally, consider going over the rig, including diameters v. loads, before replacing anything, including tangs, throughbolts, wires, etc.
Fair leads,
Brion Toss